v.] BARENTS' WINTERING. 191 



sea as the ten thousand under Xenophon, they rushed back 

 to the vessel to give Barents the important news. He now 

 did all he could to pass the north extremity of Novaya Zemlya. 

 He was successful in doing so, and on the .^Jst a haven, situated 

 in about the latitude of 76° North, was reached with great 

 difficulty, but all attempts to sail eastwards from it were 

 unsuccessful. Finally, on the o^^^-r Barents determined to 

 return to Holland. 



Now, however, it was too late. The haven was blocked with 

 drift-ice, which was in constant motion, several times pressed 

 the vessel high up between the pieces of ice, and finally broke 

 the rudder in pieces. It was now evident that it would be 

 necessary to winter, and for this purpose the requisite tools, 

 household articles, and provisions were landed and men sent 

 out to examine the neighbourhood. Reindeer tracks were seen, 

 and, Avhat was more important, there were found on the beach 

 large tree-stems with their roots still adherinof, and other wood 

 which the marine currents had drifted to this otherwise com- 

 pletely woodless region. The drift-wood was collected in large 

 heaps that it might not be buried under the snow in winter. 

 A place was chosen for a house, and the Dutch began to draw 

 timber to the place. The openings in the drift-ice were on 

 the j|th September covered with a crust of ice two inches thick, 

 but on the 25th s^t. the ice was again somewhat broken up, which 

 however was of no advantage to the imprisoned, because their 

 vessel was forced up so high on a block of ground ice that 

 it could not be got off. Bears were hunted almost daily. They 

 were very bold and sometimes came on board the vessel. On 

 the '|th October all ice was driven off as far as the eye could 

 see, but the vessel still lay motionless on the blocks of ground 

 ice. Round these the ice closed in again, to break up anew 

 at a greater or less distance from the beach. On the !,?^'|^''? there 



o 22nd Feb. 



was still much open water visible from the beach, and on the 

 ^^th and '|th March, the sea appears to have been in one 

 direction completely free of ice. 



On the 2-^st October, the crew began to remove into the house, 

 ■where they afterwards passed the winter 1596—97 with many 

 sufferings, dangers, difficulties, and privations which are de- 

 scribed in De Veer's work. The crew, however, never lost 

 courage, which undoubtedly was a principal cause of most of 

 them being saved. The house was built on the north-east side 

 of Novaya Zemlya, on the shore of Barents Ice Haven. It 

 was situated far to the north of any other place where men 

 had previously passed the winter. The land and its animal 

 life was unknown, the hard frozen, almost rock-fast and yet 

 continually moving ice-covering, with which the sea was 



